Image and audio quality: We wanted a high enough resolution to make out facial features in the dark, at more than a few feet of distance, and (obviously) in daylight as well. The screen itself did not need to be incredibly high-resolution, but we wanted a size that would be easily visible on a nightstand. For all monitors, but especially audio-only options, we wanted to be able to hear everything clearly at the lowest volumes.
Your phone might not have great battery life. Many parents who use a wifi baby monitor come to the realization that their smart phone battery life isn't so great when they are streaming a live video and audio feed from their baby monitor. If you have a newer iPhone or Android device, it will probably do pretty well, but if you have an older phone the batter is probably a bit weaker already and you will notice your battery life dropping pretty quickly during use. So definitely consider battery life and charging options for your smart phone when you are choosing between a self-contained versus wifi baby monitor.
A standard video baby monitor is the first step up from audio-only baby monitors. They all come with two parts: the parent unit, consisting of a portable display screen, and the baby unit, which includes the camera and its stand. If you just want the basics or have an unreliable internet connect, a standard video monitor will help you watch over your baby without the price tag of more feature-heavy WiFi monitors.

Video, Audio, or Both: First-time parents are suckers for high-definition, night-vision baby monitors where they can pick up on exactly how their child’s chest is rising and falling. You will do this dozens of times a night. Past the Sudden Infant Death Syndrome-scare age, you may just want an audio baby monitor (which a lot of video ones double as), because you’ll know an “I’m hungry” cry from an “I lost my sock” whine.

While digital monitors minimize the possibility of unwittingly broadcasting images and sounds to other devices, any wireless device (analog or digital) can interfere with other wireless devices, such as your baby monitor, cordless phone, wireless speakers, or home wireless router. To solve the problem, first, try changing the channel on your baby monitor or on your router. If you still have interference and you can't return the monitor, try keeping other devices as far away from your baby monitor as possible.
A word of caution about extremely cheap baby video monitors (we're talking devices that cost less than $50): they're not known for their security and can be hacked. Be sure to always change the default password of any connected device you purchase. You can also protect yourself by sticking to known vendors who post frequent firmware updates and have easy-to-reach customer support.

Summer Infant has been making high-quality, reliable baby monitors for many years. One problem with the Summer Infant monitors is that it's difficult to figure out which one has the features and quality you want, given the very wide range of options. Some are much better than others, and this is definitely one of the better ones we've tested. This color baby monitor has a high-quality 5" high resolution LCD display, which is a similar quality to the Project Nursery monitor in terms of color, contrast, and brightness. When we first got our hands on this, we were excited that maybe it was a nice wide angle panorama camera. But it turns out what they meant by "panorama" is that you can remotely tilt, pan, and zoom. The panning does go nice and wide, allowing you to swing the camera side to side about 180-degrees. But the camera angle itself is no different than the other monitors on this list. That being said, this is a great baby monitor with some great features. In addition to being able to remotely pan, tilt, and zoom the camera, some of the best features were: 1) a subtle night light that you can turn on/off remotely, and can choose it to glow with a soft blue or red color, 2) a sensor that tells you the temperature of your baby's room at all times, 3) a sound-activated light bar on the top of the receiver that tells you when there's noise in the room (even when volume is off). We thought the big hand-held unit was great, with a convenient kick-stand to put it anywhere in the house, great battery life, and good range. We were able to walk around in the backyard with this unit and still get a good, stable image. Note that you can add an extra camera to this, and it will cycle through the two cameras automatically (it does not do split-screen to see both at once). Downfalls? Well, the night vision isn't quite as good as with higher-ranked monitors on this list, and even the lowest volume level seemed really loud for sleeping parents. Also, even though the screen is nice and big, the digital video quality is sub-par relative to several other options on this list. Overall, this is a great addition to our best baby monitor list, as it has great features and falls in the middle of the price range. For about the same price, we'd go with the Infant Optics or Samsung option, unless you value the larger screen size.

Bottom Line Fun Wi-Fi option with lots of features that is easy to use and has true to life images we love Really cool camera with lots of uses and great video for simple baby monitoring Budget friendly Wi-Fi camera with nice images, but potential delay of varying length Our favorite dedicated monitor with impressive range that is very easy to use A budget friendly dedicated monitor that gets the job done well without all the fluff

A big screen, a camera that zooms and a built-in nightlight make the In View monitor a great pick when you’re on a budget. The monitor also offers all the standard features: low-battery and out-of-range indicators, sound-activated lights and rechargeable batteries for the handheld monitor. Use the camera as a tabletop or mounted on the wall. And if you plan on having a big family, the monitor works with up to four cameras.